Wisbech Lawn Tennis Club submit plans for all-weather courts, floodlights and clubhouse

Wisbech tennis club. Existing building to be removed. (Image: Archant)

Wisbech Lawn Tennis Club currently has five unlit grass courts, with poor and uneven surfaces, meaning that they can only be used for a maximum of five months a year.

Wisbech tennis club. Club house. (Image: Archant)

But the plans, submitted to Fenland District Council, would see four hard courts and one mini-tennis court built at the club’s base in Harecroft Road.

Wisbech tennis club. Site plan. (Image: Archant)

The application, drawn up by agents Swann Edwards Architecture, also includes plans for a clubhouse, which would replace the existing timber buildings.

The application says: “All-year-round courts will facilitate greater participation, not only through increased club membership, but also from the general public.

“There will be opportunities for ‘pay and play’ tennis, more accessibility for shift workers and ‘cardio-tennis’ for those who wish to improve their fitness levels.

“‘Out-reach’ programmes will be developed for children in local primary schools and for young people with disabilities.”

The club, which lacks basic facilities such as electricity and water, currently hires a portable toilet but the development would see fencing and floodlights go up. The lights would be “operated on a timing device which will be charged court by court”.

The proposal also includes a parking area, with two disabled parking spaces.

The application says the development would “establish a lasting sporting facility for a poorly-served rural area in north Cambridgeshire”.

Wisbech Lawn Tennis Club, which was founded in 1902, earned ‘Clubmark’ status from the Lawn Tennis Association in 2011. It purchased the courts in 1984.